Boss rues the Canaries' fragility after Brighton draw
NEIL Adams was once again left frustrated by City’s generosity in their 3-3 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.The Canaries went 2-1 ahead early in the second half but in the end had to rely on Gary Hooper to salvage them a point five minutes from time.
Adams' team are now three points off the Sky Bet Championship play-off positions after the goal-laden contest at Carrow Road.
“We’ve conceded three goals at home. You’re always going to struggle to win the game if that’s the case,” he told Norwich City TV after match.
“At 2-1 we had a chance to wrap the game up and put it to bed, and we should do that. We’ve created very good chances, and if that happens, if we take those chances, then we’re not talking about these goals that are killing us.
“We don’t see opposition teams smashing goals in from 35 yards or scoring other tremendous goals. They’re scoring goals we feel that we’re giving them.
“As a group we always want to attack teams, that’s what we’ve always said, and it hasn’t been our attacking intent today that’s cost us. It’s just been goals that are preventable.”
Adams admits City are still searching for the right balance to the team, with the form table now showing just one win in nine in the league.
He talked of his desire for the Canaries to learn to ‘win ugly’ in the fiercely competitive division.
“We’ve spoken about playing Championship football. It doesn’t have to be a million passes and perfect goals you score, and I thought that was probably the way today,” he said.
“It wasn’t really an entertaining game for the first 20-25 minutes, it was quite slow. To some degree you think ‘fine, let’s win it ugly’.
“Let’s take our time and make sure we’re solid and strong, but you can’t have it both ways. We have to find that right balance, of course, because we are scoring goals and we always will attempt to do that, but not at the cost of what’s happened today.”
Hooper’s instinctive finish to earn the draw was his first goal of the season and Adams was pleased with his impact, adding: “He’s done his chances of starting in the next game no harm at all.
“It’s a fantastic finish and that’s what he can do. He’s been sharp for us and all credit to him for that finish, it was an excellent goal.”
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